Travel Eye on Athens (Greece)

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Overview:

Athens has always exuded a unique charm, its lively character winning over tens of thousands of visitors every year. Street markets, vine-covered tavernas, souvenir stalls and ancient monuments all form a conglomerate with buildings old and new in this city, which one out of four Greeks call home. For tourists the greatest advantage is that most attractions are accessible on foot in the central area around the landmark Acropolis. Walking is the best way to soak up the Athenian atmosphere because the traffic can reach nightmare proportions.

Athens was named after Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom, who according to mythology won the city as prize after a duel against Poseidon. The city can chart its history back thousands of years and is regarded as the cradle of western civilisation; the place where democracy was invented and philosophy, art and architecture were refined. After a classical golden age when it was home to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, the city declined in the Middle Ages, dwindling to nothing but a town with a few thousand residents gathered in the colourful area that is now known as the Plaka, until its rebirth as capital of an independent Greece in 1834.

That temple is still the most famous draw in a city that has ancient monuments a go go. There's unbeatable historical sightseeing, either in Athens's own ruins and museums or in the surrounding countryside, where sites such as Thermopylae and Marathon are just a day trip away.

Locality:

Athens, the Greek capital, sits in east central Greece, bounded by the mountains of Hymettus in the east, Pendeli and Parnithia to the north, the hills of Aigaleo to the west, and the Saronic Gulf to the south. It's home to five million people, around half the country's population.

Entertainment/Facilities/Attractions/Things to do:

Popular attractions in Athens include:

Acropolis (Akropolis) , Athens
The most famous site in all of Athens, this large hill lies in the center of the city and contains a cluster of ancient ruins.
Attraction type: Historic site; Historic village; Landmark/point of interest; Ancient ruins

National Archaeological Museum (Ethniko Archaiologiko Museo) , Athens
A museum featuring the art and artifacts of the Minoans, an ancient tribe of people who once dominated the Aegean Sea.
Attraction type: Art museum; History museum

Acropolis Museum (Museo Akropoleos) , Athens
A museum detailing the religious history of the Acropolis, featuring a collection of ancient statues used in religious ceremonies.
Attraction type: History museum; Historic home

Goulandris Foundation Museum of Cycladic Art , Athens
This private collection of prehistoric sculpture and artifacts unmatched by any other museum in the world.
Attraction type: Art museum

Benaki Museum , Athens
A collection of ancient and modern Greek visual culture housed in an elegant, newly renovated building.
Attraction type: Art museum